Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades Of The Mumbai Mafia is a book about various mafia dons focussing on Dawood Ibrahim in particular. Filled with facts, unknown incidents, and interesting stories, this book is a must-read.

Summary Of The Book

Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades Of The Mumbai Mafia, published in 2012, is a non-fiction book about notorious gangsters and also contains a comprehensive coverage of Dawood Ibrahim’s life. This is the first book that presents the history of the Mumbai mafia, and details the lives of Karim Lala, Chhota Rajan, Haji Mastan, Abu Salem, and Varadarajan Mudaliar. The main part of the book revolves around Dawood Ibrahim and describes his story starting from a young age as a boy in Mumbai to the international terrorist he has become today.

This book traces the journey of a boy from Dongri to Dubai. Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was born in 1955 to a policeman. The author describes Dawood’s first robbery, his love affairs during his youth, and how he turned into a local goon. The police used to use him against various Pathan gangsters. Gradually, he managed to destroy the competition, formed the Dawood gang, and ended up being the Mumbai Police’s arch nemesis. The don is an ally of Pakistan’s ISI, though he is not an Islamic fundamentalist.

Zaidi analyses that this alliance was born out of necessity. Pakistan is said to shelter him though he is one of the most wanted people on this planet, and in return he funds Islamic jihads. Interestingly, Dawood’s biggest source of income in Pakistan comes from selling pirated Bollywood movies. The personality and characteristics of Dawood Ibrahim have been covered well in this book. His lust for power, his focus, his shrewdness, and his calculating mind have been captured beautifully.

Dongri To Dubai: Six Decades Of The Mumbai Mafia covers the people behind the major crimes in India. Meticulously researched, this book also has intelligent analysis along with the facts. Dawood Ibrahim’s rise from a local to an international gangster is sure to keep readers hooked. The new movie, Shootout At Wadala, is based on this book.

About S. Hussain Zaidi

S. Hussain Zaidi is an Indian crime reporter and author. He has written books like Mafia Queens Of Mumbai: Stories Of Women From The Ganglands and Black Friday: The True Story Of The Bombay Bomb Blasts and Headley And I.

Zaidi was born to a tailor, and grew up in the Mumbai suburb of Vikhroli. He studied commerce from Chetna College, and later went on to work for newspapers like the Indian Express, Asian Age, Mid-day, and Mumbai Mirror. He has been working as a journalist and covering the Mumbai mafia for twenty years. Zaidi is an associate producer for an HBO movie which is based on the 26/11 terrorist attacks. This author also conducted the last ever published interview of Dawood Ibrahim. He is married to crime reporter Velly Thevar, and they live in Mumbai.

Zaidi has done a remarkable job in tracing the history of the Bombay underworld. But, I am sorry to say that like all other Indian biography/history books it is incomplete and so saying half truths. The author traces the life of Dawood's father with meticulous detail that would give him five stars but not of others! Especially the Hindu Dons and their honchos are left rather softly. Also names, where are the names of the film stars, politicians and police that attended Dawood's famous parties...

Just finished reading this book! Splits open the dark underbelly of organized crime.. Implicit use of real names makes it even more interesting and credit to the writer for having taken names! Now waiting to see how the directors of "Shootout at Wadala" fare! They have indeed got a really really good source material to start with!

I have been an avid reader and my mind goes tick-tock every time I see books on the shelf. My hands are always itching to grab those books and read at leisure, be it Khushwant Singh's conversational style or narrative style of William Darlymple or even the realistic snapshot of events by Zaidi amongst others. And then the thought crossed my mind, can I take on the role of a critic for myself and post my version or my take on specific books that I have read over a period of time. And I enthusi...

The entire book is based on facts and when you are attempting such a work of non-fiction, it takes a lot of courage and good writing skills to keep the reader interested.And trust me you won't feel bored even for a single page.Its thrilling and its fast paced.

What I liked the most is how the author has described, most of the things with minutest of details and given his views on the incidences.

After reading his previous two books BLACK FRIDAY AND MAFIA QUEENS OF MUMBAI,there a huge expectations from S.Hussain Zaidi's third much talked about book and i was really fascinated by this book. The book largely indicates the rags to riches story of Dawood ibrahim, one of the most notorious and dreaded gangster in the Mumbai underworld but also shows the growth of the crime in the city. Hussain zaidi's books are always found to be of beat and yet very commercializing and always manages to g...

Zaidi is back with his superb research and great storytelling. He has succeeded in chronicling the history of the Mumbai underworld since the early 50s. The book is full of nail-biting incidences and anecdotes. The author has refrained from including inconsequential information as well. Surely, the first book to refer to, if you want to know about organised crime in Mumbai. Though, at times, you may feel the underworld is glorified, it doesn't affect the flow and experience of the book.

The writer of this book deserves a lot.Good work.Thank you for the book. The information in this book is very useful and the writer has gathered a lot of information.Its very descriptive,one will definitely enjoy the book.This book helps us to imagine the time since beginning of the organized crime in Mumbai to the time of their control from outside India,the type of their crime and organization and lots more.a book that should be in bookshelf.

The amount of research and fact finding and to amass this huge amount of information and transform this gripping and frightening tale is testament to how much hard work the author has taken. I was actually speechless in reading what went in the underworld universe. A must must read for every person. Absolute exquisite and to the point description that one can actually visualize the incidents described. Kudos to S Hussain Zaidi